day 4

last night, after 2 bottles of 2euro wine, Helen booked her ticket to Brussels & we decided I will stay in Paris. it's just too much money for me to spend in 24hrs & she will probably get more out of visiting her friends without having to fill me in on the details of every memory they share. I reached out to a friend's friend in Milan then Helen & I layed plans for the following weeks. after, we shared family backrounds, chatted about meaningful friendships, & laughed a lot. turn in time: 3am.

our building is loud- the hallways & courtyard amplify every sound. apparently the apartment isn't just funky, it's filled with mildew- turns out it's giving me asthma. I've woken up two early mornings in a row gasping for breath & fighting coughs. not a lot of sleep. it's been an adjustment sleeping on the floor too; I don't mind, my princess body just isn't accustomed to it & I'm hurting for rest.

we suspect that someone of the asian persuasion lived here before us. when we moved in the kitchen was covered in an oily film & the whole place smelled like a dirty Wok-n-Roll. we found the pantry full of fish sauce, chopsticks, tea, and MSG. for real- a whole huge box of it! when we did our initial sanitation re-con we found thick, black hairs everywhere too.

anyway, this morning when Helen was at work, I took the bedding to the wall operated laundry & found evidence that the former denizen must have been a girl. icko. need I say more? I call her Chinatown. when Helen returned she cooked a mean breakfast & I embbarked on round two of sanitation re-con, sneezing like a banshee the whole time.

we finally motivated to conquer the rain. (the day of my arrival & the next, when Helen arrived, were sunny- it's been dismal since.) we found the Gare Montparnasse where we picked up her Brussels ticket & booked the next weeks of my life on very pricey trains. it was like a visit to the post office- despite Helen's moderate French & my adept gesturing we were shuffled off to wait in line after line. eventually, we figured out that if you speak Anglais you must go to the lines that fly the the Union Jack- duh, our bad. the woman behind the counter was very helpful & almost gladly racked up hundreds of Euros on our credit cards. it was a trial to be sure.

since we worked so hard waiting & I had to pass on the trip to the land of waffles, chocolate, & tasty beer it was obviously time to imbibe in a Belgium Ale. We stopped at the corner for grande Leffe & had a great time unwinding. all too soon it was off to the pharmacy for Claratin & another attempt at the Catacombs. we got the drugs but missed the bones again.

then it was onto the 4 train & north to the Amex office to cash traveler's cheques. the four wasn't running (rain perhaps?) and we resigned ourselves to exploring a new-found local grocer where I had my first not charming frog experience & we purchased 1.40 euro wine & champagne, fresh greens, and hopefully: worm free cheeses. we alighted back to our place where I whipped up a not bad dinner.

Helen is now on the Seine, boating for work & I am about to pass out from red wine & exhaustion. the sun is withdrawing, the rain is tapering off, & someone nearby is practicing piano- it reverberates through the courtyard, surrounding apartments, & then into our window. somehow it's very Paris & I'm loving it here.

my itinerary is as follows:

Sleep.
McDonald's with Bill? 7/4
Sleep more, see sights.
Depart Paris 7/7pm, arrive Madrid 7/8am
Bull fights, food, friends, & bed?
Depart Madrid 7/11am, arrive Barcelona 7/11 am
See sights, swim, eat.
Depart Barcelona 7/11pm, change in Milan, arrive Verona 7/12am
Friends,opera,food, bed?
Depart Verona 7/15am, arrive somewhere?
I've got two days to fill then I meet Paolo (Tina A's friend) in Milan on 7/18
Depart Milan 7/20 & head back to Paris via coastal cities?
Hang in Paris, see Catacombs, drink wine.
Depart Paris 7/30, arrive NYC-JFK 7/31
Fucking sleep my ass off till 8/1, arrive work 9am to begin new projects.

Did I mention that we are one door down from 31 rue Campaign-Premiere? It's a 1912 concrete apartment building by covered in earthen tiles by some guy named Alexandre Bigot. Seems Man Ray once had a studio there. Also down the block is the Foundation Cartier, a modern steel & glass building designed in 1994 by Jean Nouvel. It's currently exhibiting rock'n roll memorabilia from 1939-1959. Accross the blvd is another historic structure, the Ecole Speciale d' Architecture building from 1904 that has been incorporated into a modern building & now serves as a private interior design & architecture academy.

sheesh, there's something to see everywhere here!